Disclose policy on refugees

The sight of hundreds of Afghans desperately trying to get on the last planes out of Kabul in August 2021 was a jarring image that is hard to forget. Pandemonium broke out after United States President Joe Biden ended two decades of US military presence in Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack by the Islamist al-Qaida network on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. As the last American soldiers pulled out of the country, they left behind destitute Afghans terrified of their fate under the rule of extremist Taliban fighters.

That uncertainty tugged at the hearts of many peace-loving nations, including the Philippines, which immediately expressed openness to Afghan asylum seekers. As announced by Harry Roque, the spokesperson of then President Rodrigo Duterte: “All those who need help because they are being persecuted in their country, they have a place here in the Philippines.” Roque added: “As stated by the Supreme Court, the Philippines will not hesitate to admit individuals fleeing their homelands because of fear of persecution.”

It thus comes as a surprise that a reported effort by the Marcos administration to accept Afghan refugees has merited controversy spawned by the President’s sister, Sen. Imee Marcos. The senator last Friday disclosed that the Presidential Management Staff was preparing a memorandum of agreement between the Philippines and the US to allow a group of Afghans to temporarily stay in the country. Her beef was that the government had supposedly cut a secret deal with the US to provide safe haven for Afghans who were “American spies.” The senator has filed a resolution seeking an investigation into the matter. “There’s a lack of transparency in the present case,” she said.

The Philippine ambassador to the US, Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez, confirmed to the Inquirer that the US did make the request last year, but that this was still being reviewed by the Cabinet security cluster and has yet to be approved by the President.

It is incumbent on the US government to come clean on this matter for the sake of transparency, and to disabuse the public’s mind of the allegedly sinister plan. Similarly, the Department of Foreign Affairs should shed light on the claim by the senator’s “anonymous” sources in the department that majority of the DFA officials, including Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo, were “strongly against’’ the proposal supposedly being pushed by Romualdez. (Manalo might also be interested in finding the senator’s inside sources as it is highly irregular in an agency whose work is bound by diplomatic and confidentiality rules).

The senator’s DFA informant also claimed that the US was planning to seek special immigration status for 1,500 Afghans a month, with housing provided to them at New Clark City in the former US military base in Pampanga.

It is unfortunate that the issue is being politicized and tied to the Marcos administration’s renewed defense ties with the US. The senator, who heads the Senate’s foreign affairs panel, has been critical of her brother’s decision to grant new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites for US forces. The sites in the north, she said, were a “stone’s throw” away from Taiwan, which could place the Philippines at risk in the event of a confrontation between the US and China over the latter’s claims that Taiwan remains part of its territory.

This “espionage” twist to the issue must compel the President to step in and state the country’s unequivocal policy with regard to the Afghan refugees and refugees in general. Given the country’s open-door policy to refugees from war-torn countries since the early 20th century, including Jews fleeing the Holocaust, Russians, and Vietnamese boat people, it would be questionable to turn back on the country’s globally applauded humanitarian record.

Extending welcoming arms to people in need is not only innate in our culture as Filipinos, it is also enshrined in our laws. In February 2022, the Supreme Court said it has made it easier for stateless persons and refugees in the country to acquire Philippine citizenship, consistent with the United Nations conventions and protocols on refugees. Duterte also signed Executive Order No. 163 establishing an interagency committee to provide protection services to refugees and asylum seekers.

Even if the Afghan refugees were US supporters during its military presence in Afghanistan—in fact, it is their work with the US as staff, translators, and general adjunct that has made them a prime target for persecution by Taliban leaders—the Philippines’ record and long-standing policy allows this accommodation. After Kabul’s fall, the Duterte administration took in Afghan refugees, although there were no details disclosed nor controversy raised on it.

Politicizing what is essentially a humanitarian matter puts both the potential Afghan refugees and the Philippines’ security at risk. The President can end this unnecessary furor by making his policy known to the public, especially his sister.